A Muggle Perspective
by Deltree
Summary: BTVS/HP crossover. Running out of hope, Dumbledore performs some ancient magic to get advice, but winds up with a muggle and vampire instead. Maybe they just need a different perspective. Spander. Harry/Draco
1. A Strange Mishap

Title: A Muggle Perspective

Pairing: Spike/Xander, Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione, Remus/Sirius

Summary: Running out of hope, Dumbledore performs some ancient magic to get some advice, but winds up with a muggle and a vampire instead. Maybe they just need a different perspective.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Harry Potter or their respective characters

Warnings: Slash, language, maybe some violence

Timeline: In Buffy it's somewhere between S4 and S5. In Harry Potter anything past the GoF hasn't happened.

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Chapter 1: A Strange Mishap

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The living room at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place had been prepared for the spell hours ago, living room furniture pushed to the side and the old rug rolled up and placed in a corner to allow for the chalk circle to be drawn on the hardwood flooring. The members of the Order of the Phoenix that were not involved in the spell had vacated the room, congregating instead in the kitchen to avoid being in the way of the actual spell casters, but still be close enough that if anything went wrong they could rush in and help.

The four chosen to do the spell had been chanting for a while now, Snape, McGonagall, Sirius, and Remus standing at the four corners, chanting from memory and flicking their wands in complicated arcs while Dumbledore stood off to the side preparing himself for the period of questioning that would follow once the spell was successfully completed and the spirit materialized.

As the spell came to a close, the moment of truth approaching, the voices of the four spell casters rose and the feeling of magic built in the room, finally reaching a crescendo where there couldn't possibly be more magic channeled into the spell and there was a loud _POP_ almost like displaced air and two bodies fell to the ground.

All four of the chanters lowered their wands and blinked at this before hearing the sound of voices coming from the pile of bodies and raising their wands again in caution.

"Dammit, Fangless! Get your bony knees out of my side!"

"Oi! My knees aren't bony! And why don't you get your skinny arse off my leg?"

"Don't you think I'm trying? Stop moving! You're just making things worse!"

"_I'm_ making things worse! You—

"Hah! Freedom!" One of the men that had fallen to the floor finally seemed to remove himself from the writhing display of flailing limbs he had been involved in only to stand up and finally notice the wands pointed his way. The smile on his face instantly disappeared.

"Uh, Spike?" he said carefully, slipping into what was obviously a defensive stance. "I think you may want to get up as slowly and unthreateningly as you can." Then, seeming to think again, he added, "And don't talk." The man had an American accent, which was strange, and was wearing strange muggle clothing. He didn't seem like a threat, he actually didn't seem much older then some of their students, but then the spell had obviously gone wrong so who knows where these men had come from.

The other man—Spike?—got to his own feet and seemed to completely disregard his friend's warning, brushing himself off as if he hadn't a care in the world. When he finally did deign to notice the four wands pointed at his head, he merely raised a brow and asked, "And wot's this then? Did we interrupt some geek's cosplay attempt?" But despite his words and though his stance still looked as casual as ever, they could tell that he was prepared for anything they might throw at him. He was also dressed as a muggle and neither man had pulled a wand on them, but Dumbledore was wary of labeling them as safe. There was something about the two that just didn't seem right. Plus the blond looked far too much like a Malfoy for Dumbledore to be comfortable.

"Okay one: Shut up. These people seem serious," the dark-haired man said, watching the four wands drawn on him with wary, too experienced, eyes. "And two: how the hell do you know about cosplaying?"

The blond smirked and said, "Oh, I know about lots o' things."

"You didn't know about that one demon's tendency to explode," the dark-haired man pointed out.

The smirk vanished and then the blond just looked irritated. "Oh right. So I didn't remember one little thing. Give a bloke a break and stop bringin' that up, will ya? It's gettin' old fast."

The dark-haired man opened his mouth to respond and Dumbledore finally decided that he should probably speak up or these two would just continue their banter and nothing would get done. "Yes, well, I'd like to say welcome gentlemen," he began nicely enough, "but I'm afraid we have a bit of a situation." He narrowed his eyes and spoke seriously, "Just how did you two get here?"

The dark-haired man was still watching the wands, but the blond had turned to him with narrow eyes as if evaluating him. That one would be the real threat, Dumbledore decided.

"Oh you know," the dark-haired man said almost casually, with just enough wariness about him that the casualness wasn't quite believable, "We were walking along, trying to do our bit to save the world, and I feel this ripping sensation right in my stomach and then I'm on the floor up close and personal with Fangless over there." He pointed his thumb at his friend and then continued, "You mind telling me just why I now know what Spike feels like squirming beneath me?"

The blond, Spike, looked disgusted by this and glared at his friend. "As you kiddies would say '_Eww_'. Keep yer bloody disgusting fantasies to yourself in the future, mate. I don't want t' know."

The dark-haired man flushed. "I'm not – I didn't – That wasn't what I meant!"

Sirius couldn't help it. He smirked a bit. These two were amusing.

Snape just looked disgusted by the by-play, wanting to get this over with so he could get away from, well, everybody.

Dumbledore looked considering. The spell had obviously backfired quite considerably, but why would it send them these two individuals in particular? It seemed that something more was at work here. He would have to keep these two close in order to discover just what would make them the targets of a spell done with the intention of receiving help. "Then I suppose apologies are required. I'm afraid the spell we were attempting may have backfired considerably. If you would—what are your names?"

"Can you, you know, lower the sticks?" the boy asked, still eyeing the wands with some degree of wariness, "I don't know what they are, but they look like wands and I'm thinking that them pointing at us is not of the good."

"Of course," Dumbledore agreed easily, as it didn't seem as either one of their surprise visitors was going to attack. He nodded at his fellow Order members and motioned for them to relax then turned back to their guests, "Now, names, if you would."

The boy seemed happy enough now that the wands were lowered, even seeming to look relaxed though there still was an edge to him that said he was waiting for an attack. "My name's Xander. And the blond there's Spike. You?"

Dumbledore smiled. "My name is Albus Dumbledore and these are Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall." He waited patiently to see if there would be any recognition to any of the names, specifically his or Sirius', but Xander just smiled and nodded as each individual was introduced and Spike just looked bored. Dumbledore smiled again. "Good. And now that we have all been introduced I believe that we have quite a bit to discuss. If you would please follow us into the kitchen?" Dumbledore motioned for Spike and Xander to go first and, exchanging a strangely speaking look, the two men obediently moved for the door.

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Xander walked through the kitchen door only to be on the receiving end of six more wands. He froze and Spike bumped into his back.

"Oi," Spike complained, "Get moving, whelp." Then, obviously deciding to take matters into his own hands, Spike pushed Xander out of the way only to stop as he realized why Xnader had frozen in the first place. "Oh," he said calmly, "More of you lot."

Thankfully Dumbledore chose that point to come walking in behind them and he smiled at the people present in the room. "You can put your wands down now. It's quite alright."

The people in the room cautiously lowered their wands, but still looked at Spike and Xander with some suspicion. The girl with bright blue hair eventually asked the question they all were thinking. "Then who are these two then?"

Dumbledore smiled again and introduced the two, "These young men are Spike and Xander. And before you ask, I'm afraid we've had quite a mishap with the spell we were performing. Why doesn't everyone sit down and have some tea while we discuss things." The redheaded lady immediately went for the teakettle as everyone settled back down around the table. Snape made himself comfortable against the wall on one side, while Lupin and Black seemed to be comfortable enough leaning against the kitchen cabinets.

Xander rolled his eyes as he took the seat offered to him. "Oh yeah, we _must_ be in England. Everyone here drinks tea."

"You're American then?" the girl with blue hair asked.

Xander nodded with a smile. "Born and raised."

"The accent wasn't enough for you, luv?" Spike asked, looking at the girl in some derision.

The girl scowled back at him for both the endearment and tone of voice. "I just thought . . . never mind."

"So what are your guys' names?" Xander asked looking around the table at the twin redheads, the two that must be their parents, the blue haired girl, and a man with a seriously bad lazy eye. The girl with the blue hair took it upon herself to introduce the others and she went around the table with the names, interrupted only once by one of the twins' cry of, "No, I'm _Fred_. He's George."

The other twin nodded. "He's right. I'm Fred. He's George."

Xander looked confused for the moment it took for the redheaded woman that was apparently their mother to whap both twins upside the head. "Stop that," Mrs. Weasley said sternly then she smiled at Xander and Spike and told them the correct names of the twins. "That one there is Fred. This one's George. Don't let them confuse you."

Still confused, Xander just nodded. "Right."

Mrs. Weasley went on to fill up the teacups of those around the table, even handing Spike and Xander a teacup each. "Here you are, dears."

Xander looked down at his teacup with some trepidation. He didn't want to be rude and turn the tea away, but he really didn't like tea. It just wasn't his thing. Looking around the table, he found the others conjuring up a thing of honey and then milk and passing these around. Xander waited for his turn and poured a good helping of both into his tea then tried it. He immediately pulled a disgusted face and decided tea just wasn't ever going to be his thing. He turned to see how Spike was coping with the tea only to be annoyed when he found the vampire calming sipping his tea like everything was fine and dandy and they were actually at home instead of thousands of miles away in some weird area of England.

Eventually Dumbledore cleared his throat and the discussion about what to do with Spike and Xander began. After explaining to those around the table about just how the two new men had appeared, Dumbledore went on to explain to Spike and Xander just what they had been hoping the spell would accomplish. Apparently a spirit was supposed to have been summoned that would give them some advice on the war they were currently involved in. "It was supposed to be maybe not a simple spell, but certainly it wasn't supposed to turn out like this," Dumbledore finished apologetically.

"And what war are you guys talking about?" Xander asked curiously. He'd never heard of any war going on in England.

"There's this evil wizard," Tonks started to explain. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named—

"Voldemort," Dumbledore offered and everyone in the room besides Spike and Xander tried to hide the fact that they had shuddered.

"Yeah, him," Tonks said, obviously getting over her fear and determined to continue. "Anyways He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named absolutely hates muggle-borns and muggles, which is what we call non-magical people and the witches and wizards that are born from non-magical families. He's determined to kill them all. We're trying to prevent that."

"But I've never heard of any war going on in Britain," Xander said.

"Muggles don't know about us," the twin Xander was pretty sure was Fred said. "We try to stay hidden."

Xander nodded. "Well that makes sense. It certainly explains why I've never heard of any real robe-wearing, wand-waving wizards before. Witches, yes. But wizards?" Xander shook his head. "Never."

Dumbledore looked interested at this. "If I may ask. You two. You are clearly muggles and yet you seem not the slightest bit surprised by the existence of magic."

Spike smirked. "Oh, I'm not a muggle, mate."

Everyone but Lupin looked at Spike in varying degrees of confusion and Snape sneered, "Then what are you?"

"A vampire," Lupin said softly and everybody fell silent, looking at Spike.

"A vampire?" Mr. Weasley echoed, starting to look nervous.

"How – how did you know that?" Xander asked, looking between Spike and the man in the tattered robe in surprise.

"He doesn't have a heartbeat," Lupin said though how he knew that from all the way over there Xander had no idea.

And clearly this question was written on his face or something because Spike then informed him, "He's a werewolf."

"Oh. Okay then," Xander said and calmed down. The others stared at him as if his reaction was strange somehow.

"You find out that he's a werewolf and _that's_ your reaction?" George asked incredulously.

At that, Xander looked confused. "Why? Is being a werewolf some big thing here? I had a friend who was a werewolf back in high school. He was totally cool."

Snape snorted for some reason, but everyone ignored him with what seemed like long practice.

"And again," Dumbledore said, only looking more intrigued. "You are a muggle and yet you spend time with vampires and werewolves and, you say, witches. How?"

Xander shrugged. "Well that's life on the Hellmouth for you."

"The Hellmouth?" Tonks echoed, sounding unsure.

Xnader didn't seem to notice. "Yeah. It's where I'm from. Sunnydale, California. Hellmouth central."

"I've never heard of this Hellmouth you speak of," Dumbledore said, still looking increasingly intrigued. "But it sounds as though it may be a dangerous place to live."

Spike snorted softly at this and Xander smiled grimly, saying, "You could say that."" But he didn't go into any more detail.

"Then you must be great warriors if you live in such a dangerous area," Dumbledore said mildly.

Spike shot him a look at that and even Xander could tell that the old man was obviously going somewhere with this. So Xander was careful when he answered, "Well, I guess Spike's an okay fighter, but I'm just the normal human guy. My biggest weapon is my crazy good ability to pick the right donuts for everybody."

"And what are donuts?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking interested.

Spike raised a brow at this curiosity but answered, "Round pastry. Hole in the center. Usually with sugar or chocolate icing. You eat 'em."

Mr. Wealey only looked more intrigued. "Really?"

But Dumbledore seemed to be very carefully concealing his disappointment. "So you have no special skills?"

"Well I guess I'm pretty good with a tool box," Xander said. "I can fix a leaky pipe like nobody's business."

"And he's right good bait too," Spike added in what was not a very helpful way, "Demons can't resist 'im."

"Demons don't exist," Snape sneered again, sounding as though he thought Spike and Xander were idiots to think otherwise.

Xander looked at him as if he were the crazy one. "Um, yes they do? I think I would know, you know. Living on a Hellmouth here."

Dumbledore frowned, some worry reaching his face. "No, he's quite right. Demons haven't existed since the Great Inquisition back in the late 1600s."

Now Xander frowned. "But I've seen them. Spike here's living, or unliving, proof that demons exist."

Tonks shook her head. "Vampires aren't demons. They're magical creatures." She shot another worried look at Spike and added, "Dark creatures."

Now Xander was starting to get concerned. "No, vampires are demons. Spike, you tell 'em."

Spike sighed as if this was some great burden and said in an incredibly bored voice, "Vampires are demons."

Dumbledore shook his head slightly, that frown still on his face. "I once had a good friend that was a vampire and he was quite adamant that vampires were simply magical creatures. Any ties vampires had to demons had been erased by centuries of good breeding."

"But," Xander started, hopelessly confused, "But what does that mean?"

Everyone in the room exchanged looks with each other, everyone but Xander and maybe Spike seeming to understand something that Xander couldn't quite get. And wasn't that comforting? It was just like at home.

Finally Dumbledore spoke again, gently this time, as if he was going to impart some particularly bad news. "It means that we may have pulled you from farther than we first believed. I'm afraid we may have pulled you across dimensions."

Xander stared. "Dimensions? You mean this is an entirely different _dimension_?" Xander laughed briefly, sounding a little hysterical even to himself. "And here I was thinking we could just get a plane ticket and be on our way home."

"We will, of course, do our best to help you get back home," Dumbledore hurried to assure him, "But you may have to stay with us for a length of time."

Xander shook his head and, talking to himself, said under his breath, "Another dimension."

Annoyingly, Spike just shrugged, not looking in the least bit startled by this news. "Could be worse, whelp. Could've landed ourselves in some hell dimension."

Xander sighed. "Well, I guess you may be right there. Especially knowing my luck."

Dumbledore seemed pleased that they were taking the news so well. "Wonderful," he said with a smile, "But I'm afraid I must ask one more question." He turned to Spike. "You. I know you are a vampire, but coming from another dimension you may have different powers or needs. Do you need to hunt to get the blood you need?"

Spike shook his head, a frown forming on his face. "Can't. Got this chip shoved in me brain, yeah?"

The twin Xander was pretty sure was Fred frowned, "Chip? You mean you have—

The other twin, George, copied his frown and broke in, "food in your brain?"

Xander shook his head, knowing Spike wouldn't want to explain. "No. It's a computer chip. It makes it so he can't hurt anything human. It shocks him when he does."

Mr. Weasley started to look interested again. "Really? A computer chip? How does it work?"

Xander frowned at him. "Well, I'm not really sure. Like any other computer chip, I suppose."

"Does that mean—

Mrs. Weasley interrupted him here. "You can ask him about it later, dear. We have other things to worry about now."

Mr. Weasley seemed mollified by that. "Ah, yes. Yes, of course. I'm sorry. Do go on."

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, thank you Arthur." And he turned back to Spike, "Then I suppose I will not have to ask that you suspend your hunting while you are staying with us. We shall, of course, supply you with the blood you need. But onto my other questions. I simply must ask, what other special abilities do you have? In our universe, vampires are known to be able to hypnotize their victims and have twice the strength of an ordinary man."

Spike nodded and leaned back casually in his seat, almost lounging. "Well, I can't hypnotize anybody. My Sire could, but I never really got into it. An' I am stronger than a human. About six times stronger, I think. An' I'm faster, have better senses, can heal up pretty fast, but that's pretty much it."

Again Dumbledore seemed to be very carefully hiding his disappointment. He even smiled. "How interesting."

Spike shot him a sharp look. "Yeah, interestin'." There was a pause. "Is that all th' questions you 'ave, then?"

Dumbledore looked at the others as if to see if they had any other questions themselves, like maybe McGonagall, Sirius, or the man that had been introduced as Moody would actually say something. When nobody spoke up, Mr. Weasley almost visibly trying to restrain himself, Dumbledore nodded. "No, I believe that is it. Molly, if you could please show our guests to a room? Thank you."

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TBC?


	2. Different Conversations

I wanted to say thank you to those who reviewed including Narias, FrequencyQueen, and 123Omg123.

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Chapter #2: Different Conversations

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Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looked at each other as they listened to the conversation going on downstairs. People from an entirely different dimension? That was a little weird and they lived in the wizarding world where weird was pretty much standard. Then, hearing the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, they hurriedly pulled the Extendable Ears up from where it was hanging and the four of them rushed back to Ron and Harry's room. Listening through the door, they could hear Mrs. Weasley's voice as she apparently showed the two dimensional travelers to a room a couple doors down from Ron and Harry's.

"I'm sorry, but we only have the one room left. There are others, but we haven't managed to get those rooms cleaned just yet and so they may be a bit dusty and who knows what dark objects we'll find back there. There," she said, probably performing the charm to make one bed into two. "Now you won't have to share. Will you two be alright?"

And then they heard the voice of one of the "guests", the American one that seemed to do most of the talking, "Oh that is so cool. Thank you! Sharing a bed with blood-breath here has always been one of my secret fears." He sounded a little excitable for someone who supposedly already knew about magic.

Then came the voice of the other one, the British one that was supposedly a vampire. "Like I'd want t' sleep with you either, whelp." The voice was nearly drenched in derision and Harry wasn't sure he actually wanted to meet that one. He sounded far too much like Snape.

Then they heard the door close and Mrs. Weasley walk away and everything was quiet.

"So?" Ginny asked, walking away from the door and settling herself down on Ron's bed. "What do you think?"

"It's a little suspicious, don't you think?" Harry replied, following her back to the beds and sitting down on his own. "Two men just happening to appear when they're trying some other spell?"

"You're right," Ron said, nodding. "They could be Death Eaters."

"I don't know," Hermione said, looking hesitant to proclaim anybody they didn't know a Death Eater. "The vampire maybe. He is a dark creature and we know that Voldemort (She had been practicing saying his name for months now) is trying to recruit them. But the American?" Here she looked especially skeptical. "He seemed too cheerful and open to be a Death Eater. And did you hear them? They were practically _giving_ away secrets about themselves."

"They could easily be lies," Harry pointed out. "They're probably not from another dimension at all. Why should we trust anything they say?"

Hermione nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. "True."

"But what if they _are_ from another dimension?" Ginny asked, obviously not wanting that idea to be immediately tossed out. "What if they are exactly what they say they are?"

"Oh come on, Ginny," Ron said, giving her the look he always gave her when he was acting like the all-knowing big brother and she was just the naïve little sister. "When was the last time anybody that just appeared magically was who they said they were?"

She looked straight back at him with her own 'you're being an idiot' look on her face. "Accidents can happen, you know. Not everything is one of You-Know-Who's plans."

"But they weren't trying to get anybody at all," Harry said, trying to explain how it couldn't possibly be an accident. "They were just trying to summon a spirit to ask it a few questions. Why would a spell like that bring two people from another dimension straight into our base?"

"Maybe the spell decided to give us what we needed instead of just answering our questions," Ginny replied. All she got were two incredulous looks as if she were mental. Hermione looked like she was taking the whole argument in and thinking.

"Oh come on," Ginny said, sounding frustrated by what she obviously saw as stupidity. "You heard Dumbledore. He was obviously trying to figure out how they could be useful to us."

"And they obviously can't be that useful," Ron said, "They don't have any special powers at all. So they _can't_ have been brought here for that." He sounded triumphant, as if he had proven his point so well it couldn't be refuted, and Ginny gave him an annoyed look.

"Not everything is special powers like the books," she said, irritation lining her words. "Maybe they're here for some other reason that will help us."

Harry shook his head. "I still think they're Death Eaters."

"Well we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" Hermione said, coming back into the conversation and giving Harry an arch look.

"What we need to do is hurt them before they hurt us," Harry said, determinedly ignoring Hermione's look.

Ginny looked a little shocked by this logic. "We don't even know if they're evil yet!"

"Well, one's a vampire, so we know he's evil for sure," Ron said, seeming to be just pointing out the facts. "And the other one seems pretty chummy with the vampire bloke so he's obviously evil too."

"Ron!" Hermione looked disappointed in him. "Just because somebody is different than you that doesn't make him evil."

"He's a dark creature, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed as if that was all it should take to explain his reasoning.

"And what is Remus?" Hermione responded smartly.

"Remus is our friend!" Harry said, sounding like he couldn't believe Hermone would bring the werewolf up in this context.

"But he's also a dark creature," Hermione said. "So are you saying that all dark creatures are evil?"

Ron looked like he didn't know how to answer that and Ginny smirked at her brother, glad somebody could knock him off his high horse. Harry wasn't going to give up though.

"But this one said he was a demon!" Harry said.

Hermione raised a brow. "So you believe their story then?"

"I . . ." Mouth open to respond to that, Harry found he didn't have anything to say. She'd effectively killed his argument.

Hermione nodded as if satisfied. "So we'll wait and see how they act. They're rooming not even two doors down. It should be easy enough to spy on them."

Harry, Ron, and Ginny all looked surprised. "Spy on them?" Harry asked.

"Well, of course," Hermione responded, as though this course of action should be obvious. "We do have to figure out if they're evil or not."

More than happy about that, Harry and Ron exchanged grins over the girls' heads, each pretty much confidant that they had gotten what they wanted.

Ginny rolled her eyes. Boys.

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While Molly had gone to show their two visitors to their room for their stay, everyone immediately turned to Dumbledore.

"So what was with the questions?" Sirius asked. "You made it sound like our little accident might be something other than an accident."

Dumbledore sighed. "I had thought that, yes. But it appears that it may simply be an accident after all. The two show no sign of being anything of any particular note."

"Not even the vampire?" Tonks asked.

"Not even the vampire," Dumbledore said, looking up at the blue-haired girl with a small smile. "He was telling the truth when he said he did not have the ability to hypnotize and he, furthermore, seems to have no magical talent whatsoever. He can fight, yes," Dumbledore allowed, "They both can fight, but that can do little for us."

"And you are sure they aren't Death Eaters?" Remus asked curiously. "You know how You-Know-Who is trying to recruit the dark creatures to his side and the American did seem quite chummy with the vampire."

Looking like he despised having to agree with someone he hated, Snape still nodded. "I have not heard of any such plan, but then I am not exactly privy the entirety of His schemes and the fact that they knew of our plan to summon the spirit could have been hidden from me." His face stayed emotionless, but everyone knew how he could only hope that his suggestion wasn't true. It would mean he had been discovered as a spy.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. I have looked into their minds and they have told no lies. They have both lived lives drenched in violence, but they are who they say they are."

"Still," Moody grumbled, "Constant vigilance. They may not be Death Eaters but they could always go over to His side. Especially that vampire. I don't trust that one."

"What he said was true though. The vampire cannot hurt anything human," Dumbledore said, looking into his tea with a thoughtful look on his face. "Though I don't know how the technology works or if it will continue to work once we are back at Hogwarts, so I cannot know how his allegiances may change in the future."

"Back at Hogwarts?" McGonagall asked, looking alarmed. "Surely you don't mean to bring them with us."

Dumbledore smiled slightly again at the woman's worry. "Why of course I do! Where else will I be able to find them the help they need?"

"Plus it would keep them close just in case they do turn out to be spies," Sirius noted with a small smirk.

Dumbledore turned his smile on the younger man. "Exactly."

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"So they seemed nice," Xander said as he plopped down on the bed he had claimed as his own. He wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic are not and Spike just raised a brow in his direction. "What did you think of the old dude?" Xander continued, wondering what Spike had thought about the careful questioning.

"He's suspicious," Spike answered as he prowled the room, looking in all of its nooks and crannies. Xander had no idea what he was looking for, but felt he should probably leave the vampire to it. "He thinks we're with that Voldemort bloke."

"Well I would too if two people I didn't know suddenly appeared when I hadn't been trying to summon anybody. Especially in the middle of a war." Xander looked a little embarrassed. "Plus the fact that I said you were a demon probably didn't help us."

Spike gave him a droll look. "No," he drawled sarcastically, "Y' think?"

"Hey!" Xander said, wanting to defend himself. "They would have found out eventually. They already thought you were evil because of the whole dark creature thing vampires in this world apparently have going on."

Spike just looked at him like he was an idiot. A familiar look. "Y' sat there an' gave away almost every secret we 'ad. Whatever chance we 'ad over them is gone because you 'ad t' go play 'appy families."

Xander frowned at that, about to say that Spike hadn't been any better, but he was starting to rethink how he had acted in the kitchen. "But they're the good guys right? So what does it matter what we tell them? They might need it if they're going to help us."

"The old 'dude' as you call 'im was lookin' at us like we were choice meat," Spike said, sounding as if he was explaining something to an idiot as he went back to his investigating. "He wants more soldiers fer his war, not t' help lost little boys find their way home." He picked something up off the ground and put it to his ear, giving it a good shake. Obviously not hearing what he wanted, he put it back where he'd found it, apparently no longer interested.

"Yeah," Xander said a little irritably, starting to glare at Spike's back. "I got that. I'm not completely oblivious, you know. But now he knows that we can't help him, he should leave us alone."

Spike looked a little shocked here and turned away from the corner he had been investigating. "You don't want t' jump into their war and make everythin' okay again? I thought y' were th' good little white hat."

Xander gave Spike a dirty look. "Just because I play an idiot on TV doesn't mean I'm an actual idiot. This war is a magical war and me? Not so good with the mojo. I'd get maybe two feet and then somebody would toss a spell at me and I'd be dead."

Spike shrugged and turned back to his investigating again. "Didn't think y' cared about that. Y' certainly charge ahead during patrol like yer stupid enough not to."

"That's because demon's don't usually go all in with the mojo," Xander tried to explain irritably. "I learned early on that me and magic are non-mixy things. I try to stay as far away from it as I can."

"Smart," Spike said, obviously grudgingly. Then he picked something else off the ground and turned it over in his hands. "Wot do y' think this is?" he asked, holding the object out for Xander to see.

Xander looked at it. It was box-like in shape with weird bits that extended and a handle sticking out. He shrugged. "I dunno. A Jack-in-the-Box?"

Spike frowned down at the thing in his hands and gave the handle a spin. There was the sound of some tinkling tune and then something, Xander wasn't sure what, jumped out of the box just like a Jack-in-the-Box. Spike poked at the thing that had appeared. "Wot th' hell is that?" he asked curiously.

Xander shrugged again, not really caring. "I dunno," he repeated. "Probably some magical creature we don't know about. Put it down, will you?"

Spike put it down, still frowning at the creature that had popped out. "Yeah, alright." Then he turned back to Xander with a smirk. "So 'ow much y' want t' bet that they spend th' whole time we're here spying on us an' not doing a lick of work t' help us out?"

Xander frowned and leaned back on his elbows on the bed. "They'll help us. They have to."

Spike snorted and went to sit down on the only other bed in the room. "Don't be daft. They don't 'ave t' do a thing if their magical arses don't want to. An' they're busy with a war. We'll probably 'ave t' do all th' work fer them."

Here Xander started to look a little concerned. "But we have to get home."

Spiek shot him a scornful look. "I think yer little gang can last without donuts fer a while."

Xander tried to ignore him and grit his teeth before saying patiently, "What I mean is, neither of us can do magic. You're afraid of it and I'll just mess it up."

"Oi," Spike said, looking indignant, "I am not _afraid _of it. I just prefer t' not be around it when it misfires. An' it _always_ misfires."

Xander just gave him a pointed look. "So you volunteer to be the one to do the spell?"

Spike frowned deeply, looking like he was considering whether he should say what he had to say next or not. "The last time I tried t' do a spell by myself I ended up with blue hands fer a month," he eventually admitted.

"And what were you _trying_ to make happen?" Xander asked cautiously.

"I was _trying_ t' bleach my hair without all th' peroxide," Spike said, before going on the defensive and explaining, "That stuff gets in yer nose an' doesn't leave."

Xander groaned and flopped back on the bed. "We're doomed."

"No," Spike said, "Not doomed. We just have t' make ourselves useful, yeah?"

Xander looked up and over at him cautiously. "You have a plan?" He wasn't sure if this scared him or made him feel better. Any plan would be of the good, but Spike's plans had a tendency to go off in bad directions.

"Not a plan exactly," Spike said, "We just make ourselves useful. Or not useful. Whichever. Keep up their noses till they _have_ t' send us 'ome either 'cause they feel obligated or 'cause they just can't stand us anymore."

Xander frowned and thought that over. "We should probably be helpful then because if we're annoying they might just shove us off into some corner to get us away from them. Or they might spell us to death. Who knows with those magic types."

Spike sighed, but he obviously understood what Xander meant. "Just means more workin' fer th' white hats, I s'pose," he noted almost morosely, but then he nodded. "Alright, but that doesn't mean I have t' be nice."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Like you could ever be nice."

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TBC


	3. Meeting the Kiddies

I wanted to say thank you to those that reviewed including Narias, lttlbrat93, and Obscured Clarity.

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Chapter #3: Meeting the Kiddies

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The next morning, Xander woke up early and, looking over at the next bed to find Spike dead to the world, decided to go downstairs and maybe see about getting some breakfast.

When he got downstairs he was met with the sight of the two twins seated at the kitchen table along with two other redheads (a boy and a girl), a dark-haired boy of about fifteen, and a girl with really frizzy hair. "Oh, hi," he said and then mentally slapped himself. Yeah, that really made him sound intelligent.

"Hey!" One of the twins said and if Xander had to guess he would say it was George.

The other twin—Fred?—continued cheerfully enough, "Come on. There's enough food for everyone."

The reaction of the others at the table was mixed. The two boys looked at him with guarded expressions while the redheaded girl smiled and nodded and the frizzy brunette girl just watched him with too calculating eyes.

"Hey," Xander said, smiling nervously as he took a seat at the crammed table. "So who are you guys?"

The redheaded girl smiled and started the introductions. "I'm Ginny and this is my brother Ron and that's Hermione." She pointed at each of the kids as she spoke, but left out the dark-haired boy for some reason.

Xander smiled across the table at the boy and said, "Okay, and you?"

Briefly a shocked look slipped over the boy's guarded face and the others at the table seemed equally surprised.

"That's Harry Potter," the redheaded boy, Ron, said, sounding as if it was almost sacrilegious that Xander didn't already know his name.

"Oh, so are you somebody famous in this world then?" Xander asked cheerfully as Mrs. Weasley set a plate of eggs and toast down in front of him. He thanked her and then asked the boy, "What do you do? Are you a singer? Actor?"

All the kids—and he really should stop calling them that. They were maybe only three or four years younger than him—stared at him as if this was the stupidest thing he could have asked. All except the dark-haired boy who was starting to smile a bit.

Ron finally seemed to get himself together enough to say, "You don't know him? He's the bloody Boy-Who-Lived!"

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasely scolded, having moved to stand by the oven as they had this conversation.

"Oh!" Xander said, thinking he understood, "So you're a singer then? The Boy-Who-Lived," he continued musingly then nodded, "I suppose that's a good enough name. That would make you kind of like Prince." Xander thought again. "Or maybe the Artist Formerly Known as Prince."

The frizzy-haired girl, Hermione, seemed to choke. Good. Apparently they had Prince in this universe.

But the dark-haired boy, Harry, was openly grinning now. "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince?" he said, "I don't think I've ever been likened to him before."

Ron and Ginny didn't seem to know what to say while the twins were laughing their heads off. Even Hermione was grinning into her plate of eggs and toast. Xander didn't know what he'd said that was so funny though.

He frowned, looking at all the amused and shocked faces. "What?"

"Harry's not a singer, dear," Mrs. Weasley said kindly, coming to his aid. "He's the one who defeated You-Know-Who."

"You mean that Voldemort guy?" Xander asked, only getting more confused and ignoring as everybody but Harry seemed to openly stare at him for saying the name. "Well if he was defeated then why are you guys still fighting him?"

That seemed to sober the table up and the grin on Harry's face immediately disappeared.

"He was brought back," Hermione said softly, looking at Harry in worry.

"Oh," Xander said, starting to feel bad for bringing back what were obviously bad memories. "Sorry," he offered lamely.

Harry smiled slightly, "It's okay. You didn't know."

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny seemed to look at him sharply at that, but Xander didn't even want to bother figuring that one out. Instead, he looked down at the plate of eggs and toast that Mrs. Weasley had put in front of him and started to eat.

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It was after breakfast and Xander didn't know what to do with himself. Spike wasn't here to mock and he hadn't brought anything with him from home so he had nothing to do. The kids had gone off somewhere, Xander didn't know where to, and the twins seemed to be conspiring together in the living room, but Xander had a feeling that he probably should stay out of their way. Everyone else seemed to have gone off somewhere, probably to their jobs, and so, all in all, he was dead bored.

Deciding that if nothing else he could learn the layout of the house, Xander started to explore. Walking through the hallways, he started to understand why Mrs. Weasley had said the other rooms in the house might be a bit dusty. Everything but the main rooms and a few of the rooms that Xander assumed belonged to the other people in the house were covered in dust. And he didn't even want to know what some of those things hiding in the corners were. They looked like furniture, but Xander had never seen furniture look so evil.

Eventually he had to go down one hallway with a bunch of picture frames and he stared as the evil looking people in the frames moved around and talked to each other. He was so intent on watching these people converse and move that he eventually ran right into that kid, Harry, and his friends. Literally ran into him.

"Oof!" Xander said and fell back a step. Harry, who didn't look like he actually got to eat that much, fell back hard into his friend Ron. There they got a bit tangled, but then, getting themselves back together, they turned to eye him suspiciously.

"What are you doing in this hallway?" Ron asked.

Xander started to look around nervously. "Am I not supposed to be here? Is this a bad hallway to be in?"

Ron frowned. "No, it's just—

"We were just wondering what you were doing," Hermione cut in smoothly.

"Oh." Xander turned back to the kids and shrugged. "I was bored and it didn't seem safe in the living room so I thought I'd explore."

Ginny frowned. "Why wouldn't it seem safe in the living room?"

That Xander answered easily. "George and Fred were in there and they looked like they might be up to something. My instincts said to flee so I did."

Harry smiled slightly at that. "I would've run too. They're probably working on one of their inventions."

"They invent stuff?" Xander asked, looking interested. "What kind of stuff?"

Harry shrugged. "Mostly pranks and joke stuff. Nothing big."

Xander nodded and then there was a pause that became slightly awkward. Ginny finally elbowed Ron to apparently get the tall boy started.

"Huh? Oh!" Ron said then turned to Xander and began uncomfortably, "We were wondering, you know, 'cause we thought you might be bored, if you wanted to play Exploding Snap with us?"

Xander frowned. "Exploding Snap?"

"It's a game," Ginny explained, smiling at him. She really did seem to be the most friendly of the kiddies. And, oh God, he was thinking like Spike. He really needed to spend less time with the bleached menace.

She happily went on to explain how the game was played and it sounded like fun so Xander agreed to give it a try. And so the five of them went down into the living room and played with cards that exploded. It was really cool. In between turns the kids took the time to carefully grill him, asking him questions about his universe. Stuff like little details and what he did there and how he came to be so friendly with a vampire. They were obviously suspicious of his presence in the house, just like the adults were, so Xander tried to be as open and honest as possible. He wanted these people to trust him, after all. They were needed if he and Spike ever wanted to get home.

"And so he really can't hurt humans?" Ron was asking suspiciously. "Has he tried?"

Xander nodded happily and placed a card on the pile. "Oh yeah, he's tried loads of times. He even tricked us all and almost got us all killed by the baddie we were fighting while he was trying to get a way to turn the chip off."

The kids looked alarmed. "And you're still friends with him?" Harry asked.

"Friends?" Xander snorted, shaking his head. "Nobody's friends with Spike. Even if he wasn't evil, he's way too annoying and he's always reminding us that he wants to kill us all."

Hermione didn't seem to trust that he was telling the truth here. "You two certainly seemed friendly enough last night."

Xander looked up from the game and blinked at her. "You were listening?"

Hermione blushed then and all the kids tried to distract him with the card game. Xander just laughed at their attempts, shrugged, and said, "Well I guess it may look like friendliness to anybody who doesn't know us. I've just learned to mostly ignore everything he does. You kind of have to after rooming with the guy."

"What do you mean rooming with him?" Ginny asked curiously, placing her own card on the pile.

"For a while there when we weren't sure if his claims that he couldn't hurt anybody were true, Spike had to kind of live with us," Xander explained. "He mostly spent his time chained up in Giles' bathtub, but for a while there I had to tie him up in my basement. We had a nice conversation about my bite-worthiness and then he went back to Giles'."

"And you trust him now?" Harry asked.

The question seemed oddly intent and Xander glanced up to find Harry looking at him with a strange intensity. "I . . ." Xander trailed off and actually thought this question through. "Yeah, I do," he finally said, finding himself surprised that he actually kind of did. Somewhat bothered by this realization, he placed a card on the pile and started to ramble, "Well, I trust him not to kill me, at least. Not right now with the chip being active. If it wasn't for the chip I'm sure he'd be killing everything in sight just to prove to himself that he could." Seeing that the kiddies were looking anything but reassured, Xander tried to reign himself in and get back to the point. That Spike could, in a tiny way, be trusted. "But right now? Yeah, I trust him. I mean, he's certainly had the time to try and get us all killed but, except for that one time, he hasn't. And he could easily get one of his demon friends to kill us or just not help us when a big demon comes, but he actually helps out." The reasoning was sound, but it didn't make him feel any better. Spike was a vampire. He shouldn't be trusted _at all_. Shaking off his musings, Xander smiled at the kids again. "Between you and me, I think he actually kind of likes my best friend and her girlfriend."

The kids seemed to accept that and they went on playing the game and asking him questions. Hermione in particular seemed interested in how their worlds were different, though Xander had a feeling that Ron and Harry didn't quite trust he was telling the truth in his stories. Eventually they got on the subject of 'Times I Almost Died' and Exploding Snap was put to the side in favor of trying to beat each other in how dangerous or outlandish their individual stories were. Xander was surprised to find how many stories the kids had for how young they were. Which was just ridiculous because hadn't he been fighting with Buffy at fifteen? Still these kids had started fighting evil at age eleven and that was impressive.

And now that he'd been around the small group for a while he could see how their roles echoed those of the Scoobies and mixed with the way he and Willow had been with Jesse .

Hermione had Willow's role as the book-girl, but she had Buffy's I-know-best, get-it-done attitude. Ron, for his part, had Xander's role as joker, but was more like Jesse and while Harry had Buffy's Savior role, he also had Xander's back-story. Oh, they didn't exactly go out of their way to say, oh yeah and Harry was abused, but like could recognize like. And you could read it so easily from the way they told some of the stories. Ginny, of course, had Dawn's role as the little sister that wanted to play with the big kids, but wasn't allowed. She also had a massive crush on Harry that Hermione thought was the cutest thing. Xander wondered if the kids knew how easily they could be read. He had a feeling they didn't or they wouldn't have spent so much time around him.

Eventually, at around half past six, two things happened. Spike woke up and the adults started to reappear. All of the adults, including a couple that Xander hadn't met yet, started to congregate in the kitchen for a meeting while Spike came out into the living room to complain about the lack of blood and the kids got shifty looks on their faces and said they were going to go back up to the their rooms to study. If Xander read them right, and he was sure that he had, they were actually going to go spy on the adults' meeting, something that he heartily approved of, especially now that he knew their stories. These kids seemed to do more of the actual world saving than the adults did and, as such, they should rightly know what evil was going to come try to kill them next. It was only fair.

Spike plopped himself down in one of the large armchairs that were situated in the living room and kept his ear to the door to the kitchen as the meeting started.

"They're talking about us," he finally informed Xander after a long few moments.

Xander sighed and looked like he had expected this. "I thought they might."

"These new blokes are apparently the rest of their little gang," Spike said then listened some more and snorted. "The Order of the Phoenix. Poncy bastards. That's almost as bad as your lot. The Scooby Bunch."

Here, Xander glared at the vampire. "The Scooby Gang," he emphasized. "_Gang_," he said again just in case Spike was experiencing temporary hearing problems.

"Whatever. Y' sound like a bunch o' tossers," was Spike's great opinion.

Xander scowled at him but then decided to ignore the whole exchange. "They've already decided to help us, right?" he asked, nodding his head in the direction the adults in the other room.

Spike nodded.

"Then what are they talking about us for?" Xander continued.

"For wot else?" Spike said, looking at him like he was quite the idiot. Nothing new there. "They think we're spies an' that Dumble-bloke is tellin' them t' be all careful-like. Nothing about any plan t' send us 'ome. Boring."

Xander had to agree. That was kind of boring. It was exactly what they had expected them to talk about only for the second night in a row. "Then I guess I should tell you what I found out while you were sleeping," Xander offered.

"Couldn't have found out much," Spike said, looking at him doubtfully.

Xander just smiled and started to fill Spike in on his discovery of the true heroes. They would be the ones that they would need to get the trust of. They would be the ones that would be helping them get home.

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TBC?


	4. Spies and Subterfuge

I would like to thank those that reviewed including littlbrat93 and NATWEST.

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Chapter #4: Spies and Subterfuge

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It was the next day and Harry, Ron, and Hermione held the Extendable Ears up to their own ears and listened closely. Still nothing. Ron cursed and threw the Extendable Ear piece they'd been sharing to the ground.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded, "Language!"

"Sorry, Hermione," Ron said, looking frustrated, "It's just— Why isn't it working?"

Harry nodded in agreement to the question, looking equally frustrated. They had been trying for a while now, but they still couldn't hear anything from the kitchen, where the latest Order meeting was being held.

Hermione frowned and looked down in the direction of the kitchen. They were hiding at the top of the stairwell and they could just see into the door of the meeting room. "I think they must have put up a silencing spell," she said. "It would make sense. Especially since there's a vampire and possible spy in the house now. You know vampires have much better senses than humans. He could probably hear what they're discussing in the kitchen from all the way across the house and he's sitting in the living room."

That just made Harry angry. "So because of – of _them_," he said irritably, throwing a hand in the air, "We're completely out of the loop now. How are we supposed to know what's going on if we can't even hear it?"

Hermione looked like she was trying to think. "We could always grill the twins."

"Wouldn't work," Ron said, running a hand wildly through his red hair as he scowled. "We tried that before, remember?"

Hermione nodded, obviously remembering, and Harry got up to kick the staircase railing angrily.

"This is just great," he muttered.

The trio was quiet for a while, each quietly thinking their own thoughts, when finally Hermione spoke up again. "This is good though, in a way."

Harry glared at her. "How is this good?"

Hermione just looked back at him calmly. "Well now we can focus on figuring out if our guests are evil or not."

Ron looked confused. "But we're already doing that during the daytime."

"Which is when the vampire is asleep," Hermione reminded him. "I think it would be good if we saw how they acted when they're together. It'll give us a better picture of the relationship dynamics and they might slip up and come out of character when they're talking to each other alone."

Harry frowned, but looked like he was thinking about this. "But you said vampires have better senses than humans. How would we even get close enough to hear anything?"

Hermione beamed proudly at him for the good thinking. "We can use a silencing spell to hide any sound our movement might make and I think I can come up with another spell to hide our scents."

Ron scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Scents?"

Hermione nodded. "Vampires have a very good sense of smell."

Harry nodded in agreement to this and the three looked at each other and then smiled. They were going to do this.

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Harry, Ron, and Hermione scrunched up together closer under the invisibility cloak—something that was getting harder to do now that they were older and much bigger—and cautiously moved into the living room where Spike and Xander were seated. They couldn't just use the Extendable Ears as then they would've had to lower the earpiece down from the staircase and that wouldn't leave it in a good spot for them to hear anything. Xander appeared to be showing Spike how to play with the exploding cards and the two were absorbed in a seemingly very competitive game of Exploding Snap.

"Hah!" Xander crowed as Spike put down a card and the pile exploded. "I got you! I win!"

"Oi!" Spike complained. "That's not even fair! You cheated!"

"Oh yeah, like you were doing anything different," Xander replied as he collected the cards and started to shuffle.

"Well, vampire, me," Spike said, "I'm expected to cheat. Yer th' bloody white hat. Y' jus' can't do that."

Xander smirked and started to pass the cards out for another game. "Well I just did. Have to do something to even the odds if you're going to cheat the whole time."

Spike grumbled and the two went back to their game, crowing and gloating whenever they got a point and blaming the other person of cheating whenever the other person did. It was starting to get boring watching them and it was uncomfortable being scrunched up so close together under the invisibility cloak. Harry was just trying to look behind him at Hermione and Ron to see if they wanted to leave when Spike and Xander finally started to talk of something interesting.

"It's not fair," Spike complained yet again, "You've 'ad days with th' kiddies t' practice while I was sleepin'."

Xander snorted. "Yeah and about that. I think it might be a little bit harder than I thought getting them to help us. They are _really _suspicious. I've never been grilled so thoroughly before."

Spike frowned down at his cards, seeming to be only paying half attention to Xander's words. "Yeah? They ask about th' chip yet?"

"Practically the first question out of their mouths," Xander said, busy placing a card down. He glanced up at Spike and smirked a bit. "Don't worry. I told them you were as dangerous as a cute little stuffed animal with that thing in your head."

Spike finally looked up from his cards to glare at Xander. "Just y' wait Harris. I get this thing out o' my head an' yer th' first on my list."

"Really? I feel so honored," Xander replied, looking amused, "I thought for sure Buffy would be the first on your list."

Spike frowned at that and looked down at the cards in his hand. "Well, alright. Yer after th' Slayer. But yer still pretty high up there. I hate y' almost as much as I hate her."

Xander smiled as if Spike had said something especially adorable. "Aww. I hate you too, blood-breath."

Spike spared him an especially dirty look at that, but then turned right back to the game, carefully placing a card down on the pile.

Seeing this move, Xander frowned and carefully placed his own card. Slowly taking his hand away, he waited to see if the pile would explode and smiled again when it didn't. The two were quiet for a moment as they continued to play, but then Spike spoke up again.

"Wot'd th' crazy old coot say when y' asked 'im 'bout us getting 'ome?" he asked.

"He said we have to wait a few days until we can get to Hogwarts, wherever the hell that is. Apparently that's where they're keeping all their books." Xander frowned at his cards. "I think he was amused by my question actually. Like us wanting to get home was some strange new thing. Though maybe that's just 'cuz they still think we're spies for that Boldemore guy."

"Voldemort," Spike corrected casually and placed another card.

"Yeah and I still think that's a stupid name," Xander said, not missing a beat. "I mean what kind of name is Voldemort? Did his parents hate him or something?"

"Idiot," Spike said scornfully, but not glancing up. "Th' bloke made th' name up, obviously."

"Then what was the dude smoking when he was brainstorming ideas for evil overlord nicknames? What's wrong with the good, old, classic Dark Lord Seth or whatever."

"Dark Lord Seth?" Spike repeated as he finally glanced up, sounding somewhat incredulous and even more scornful. "Wot kind o' name is _Dark Lord Seth_ fer a mass-murdering would-be dictator?"

"What kind of name is Spike for a mass-murdering would-be vampire?" Xander replied, sounding almost kind of insulted that Spike was making fun of his made-up Dark Lord name.

"'ey," Spike said, looking up from his cards again warningly. "I earned my name."

"You sound like a dog," Xander said.

"You remember how I got my name, don't you?" Spike just said threateningly.

"Woof, woof," Xander replied.

Harry looked back at Hermione and Ron to see if they thought they had heard enough and the three turned and quietly left the room, each of them thinking about what they had just heard.

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"Well they don't sound particularly evil," Hermione said.

"Didn't you hear what Xander called Spike?" Harry asked, looking at her strangely. "A "mass-murdering would-be vampire?" Spike's a mass-murderer."

"And he said he earned his name," Ron reminded them.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, looking a bit disturbed by the thought. "I don't even want to know how he did that."

"I just meant, they don't sound like they're working for Voldemort," Hermione said, trying to explain her statement. "And it's not like they've ever hid the fact that Spike used to kill people. Xander told us about how evil he used to be, remember? But now he has that chip in his head and can't do anything."

"It did sound like that chip is real," Harry allowed. "I mean, Spike was threatening for when it came out when he could've just threatened for right then."

"But that chip is a bit of muggle teknolagi, right?" Ron asked.

"Technology," Hermione corrected.

"Yeah, that," Ron said quickly before continuing on with his point. "And we all know muggle whats-its don't work in magical places. What'll keep Spike from killing everyone when he realizes that his chip thing doesn't work?"

There was a long moment of apprehensive silence in which each of them tried to envision the bloody massacre that would occur when that happened.

"So we should definitely keep an eye on them then," Harry finally said.

"But Xander," Hermione said, bringing up the next point, "He doesn't sound very evil. I doubt he'll be going on any killing sprees at least."

"You think he might be trustworthy?" Harry asked, looking at her doubtfully.

Hermione just looked back at him seriously. "It's not like he can do anything to hurt us. He's a muggle. We know that for sure. Nobody could fake his surprise at all the wizarding things we have around the house as good as he does."

"Right," Ron said, nodding.

"He could still be a spy," Harry pointed out.

"Harry," Hermine just said, looking him straight on. "Do you honestly think Voldemort would ever want a muggle to spy for him? Even if he thought we would never expect it?"

At that, Harry frowned but eventually had to shake his head.

"Good." Hermione nodded to herself. "So it's agreed?" she asked, looking at both of her friends. "They're from another world and we trust Xander, but we don't trust Spike."

"We should still keep an eye on them both just in case," Harry said, obviously still having some trouble with his trust issues. "They did say they wanted to use us."

Ron nodded immediately in agreement. "Course, mate."

Hermione sighed, but agreed as well. "Alright. But only if this isn't just another excuse to get out of doing your homework."

Harry smiled slightly at this concern. "Thanks."

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Draco looked down on the entranceway to the Malfoy Manor and watched as the house elves flit about getting ready for the huge party his parents were throwing that night. He frowned at the thought and swept from the room, heading back to his wing of the huge mansion.

He wasn't sure what to think of this party. It was supposed to be a simple gathering of like-minded, pureblooded, socialites getting together to have a good time like many of the other parties just like it put on every year, but Draco had a feeling this one was different. The house elves were nervous and his parents had been fighting again.

Obviously this party was going to have something to do with the Death Eaters as the only other reason his mother would speak up against his father was if she thought some random wing of the house should be painted one color instead of the other. Not that Father really cared about what color the house was painted, but occasionally he would step in during renovations and choose a color Mother didn't like purely for the color's pureblooded, high-society connotations. As such, he chose dark green a lot and Mother simply hated dark green.

But that was beside the point. This party was going to be for the Death Eaters and Draco was going to be expected to attend. He'd probably already met most of them as friends of his father's, but he'd heard that individuals from the other parts of Europe were going to attend also. So that was something new.

Did this mean something big was happening in the Death Eater circle? Or was this party simply put on for the entertainment purposes it said it was?

Draco knew he was going to be introduced to many men of power, men who could help him when he graduated from Hogwarts, but he also knew that these men of power would be the corrupt and evil ones. That they would be the ones his father wanted him to know and the only ones who would ever give him a chance.

If he wanted a chance at a good position in society after his graduation he would have to shmooze with the best of them tonight. Put on his best 'I hate all muggles' face and lie and deceive and basically do what he had been trained to do since his birth.

But this wasn't what Draco was having difficulty with. He was used to lying and deceiving. He did it every day. He was a champion at it, at least in most circumstances. No, what he was having difficulty with was his growing dislike of Death Eaters in general. It sat heavily with him and he didn't like it.

It wasn't the Death Eaters' purpose he minded so much as the fact that, ever since Voldemort had returned, his father had become someone else. He wasn't Draco's father anymore. This wasn't the man Draco had looked up to with pride and even love. Because Malfoys did love. They just weren't allowed to show it in public.

Now, where his father would usually look down on him as a son and heir, Father looked down on him as though Draco were just some piece on the chessboard and an inadequate one at that. His studies were never good enough, his dueling was never good enough, his achievements were never good enough, the Cruciatus curse was used more than ever before, Father was never home, and the list went on. And Draco wasn't stupid. He knew what Death Eaters did to muggles and muggle-borns and muggle-sympathizers. He didn't like them much either, but did they really have to murder and torture them? That was so . . . dirty and crass and unlike anything a pureblood was supposed to be.

Draco hated Voldemort for turning his father into something he wasn't, for taking away the father he had loved and turned him into this evil bastard.

But Draco also knew the hard truth. It was join the Death Eaters or die. Even if you lived past disobeying Voldemort, where would you go? The moment the Sorting hat put you in Slytherin your fate was sealed because what good employer would employee a Slytherin and supposed Death Eater unless he too was a Slytherin and Death Eater? If a Slytherin wanted a job, even a low-paying job, they had to turn to Voldemort. And Draco hated the bastard for turning the world into a place where Slytherins didn't have choices.

Slytherins should be ruling the world, allowed to do whatever they pleased, but instead they were looked upon with fear and hate and disgust simply for their house and family. It was so hypocritical it was disgusting.

But Draco knew what he would do. He would lie and cheat and deceive and continue to live his life the best he could in a world where everything was wrong. And then he would graduate and become a Death Eater and take his place at a father he couldn't help but despise's side.

The party would go on, his growing dislike would be carefully hidden, and Draco would die little bit by little bit inside every time he was introduced to someone and they likened him to his father. And then the party would be over and life would go on.

Life would be tricky and full of lies and hypocrisy, but it would go on.

Draco sighed and sat down at his desk to write a letter to Pansy. He wondered what Harry Potter, The Boy Wonder, was doing. Probably living the high life and enjoying every second of it, the bastard.

------------------------------------------------------------

TBC?


End file.
